Miranda Martin, An American Witch
by desdemona47
Summary: Ever wonder what the American Magical community is like? Here's your chance to find out! See a new Wizarding World through the eyes of a young American witch.
1. Meet Miss Miranda

Welcome to my first Harry Potter fanfiction. I've been reading HP fanfiction for some time now, and decided to try my hand at it. I decided to write this story because I wanted to explore the Magical Community of the Americas. Also, I think it seems that there should be a wizard school in West Virginia... I mean, look at all the weird stuff that happens here. The Moth-man, the Flatwoods Monster, and all sorts of strange things happen here that no one seems to notice. Just for the record, I AM from WV, but not from the part in question, so I hope I get this right... Hope you like it!  
  
Oh, one last thing, the words you see like "nowi" and such are made up, because I doubt that Americans would use the same slang as the British do. I tried to explain the new words as well as possible if you have any questions, email me (desdemona47@yahoo.com) or ask me in a review, k?  
  
***  
  
She looked up at the building with awe in her icy blue eyes. One would never expect to see such a structure nestled away in the south- eastern mountain forest of West Virginia. But yet, it was there; Collard Secondary, the finest Wizarding School in North America. She couldn't believe she was there...  
  
***  
  
Miranda Marie Martin had been born to a Luth (a person from wizarding family, but lacking magical talent) and a Nowi (that is, a non-magic person) in Cleveland, Ohio, the third of four children. Though neither of their parents, Ruth and Edward, had any magical skill, the children, Masha Margaret, Morgana May, Miranda, and Elwin Baxter, had been exposed the wizarding world through their favorite aunt, Mabel Shelly, their mother's sister who the girls had been named in honor of. They lived fairly normal nowi lives, only occasionally touched by anything magical, and never expected anything more than that.  
  
But that was before the summer after Miranda's sixth grade. A letter had arrived by owl post (which wasn't too unusual, since Mrs. Martin's family tended to contact her that way), that bore the Collard seal. At first, the Martins were fairly sure that there had been some sort of mistake. For, even though Miranda had grown up in a non-magical household, her mother and aunts would have surely noticed any magical talent in her when she was younger. But there was no mistake, a second letter that arrived from the Vice-Principals explained. Somehow Miss Miranda had kept hidden talent within her all this time, and the teachers of Collard were prepared to coax it out.  
  
This scared Miranda. She was the quietest and shyest of the tawny- haired Martin sisters, preferring to let the brainy Masha take the academic honors, and the beautiful Morgana charm their peers. Elwin, who was closest to her in age, would tease her and pull her hair, making her wish to disappear. Now they wanted her to leave her home and go somewhere else all alone? She wasn't sure what to do.  
  
Going to Collard could be wonderful though. It was the best, and most famous of the American wizard schools, and just attending was a huge honor. Being selected was not something to be taken lightly.  
  
But, perhaps, there was another reason that a small voice in the back of Miranda's mind urged her to go... At home, with her family, she was Miranda Marie, the third daughter. Not quite the cute youngest, just sort of lost somewhere in the middle. There had always been a part of Miranda that wished to break free. Part of her that wanted to stand up and shout, "Here I am! Look at me!" That was the part of her that wanted desperately for her to accept the invitation. That was the part of her that told her to be strong, not to fear, she could make it. That was the part of her that wouldn't let go.  
  
It was also the part of her that won out.  
  
***  
  
So, she packed her things, and gathered her savings, it was time to equip herself as a witch should be. Her mother helped her load her stuff in the car, and drove her to Monroe Street, the center of the wizarding community in Cleveland. She had been there a few times before, but it never ceased to stir a sense of wonder in her stomach. There was Quinlan's New and Used Books, three floors filled to the brim with no less than one of copy of every magical book, tome, or writing published in the last two centuries, or at least it seemed that way to her. To the right of Quinlan's sat Forkot Magical Creature Bazaar, with the more common wizarding pets, such as owls and kneazles, to strange and dangerous creatures like kappas and even kelpies. On the left was Wizarding Sports (And Otherwise) which, while it specialized in Quodpot and its European cousin Quidditch, also stocked equipment for the new "hybrid" versions of nowi sports (using the same rules and principles, just adding few charms and enchantments to spice things up) that were popular among the younger generations of magical Americans.  
  
However all the stores on the street faded away when Miranda saw it, Jasmine's. Jasmine's was the nicest clothing store on Monroe Street, and was also the only place in Ohio to get Collard uniforms. But Miranda had more in mind than just uniforms when she stepped in the posh store. She was going to start a new life at the school, and for that she needed a new look, didn't she? She very nearly giggled at the thought. Her mother had seen an old friend outside the store and left her daughter on her own for a bit. This didn't bother Miranda, in fact she was rather glad to have free reign to shop.  
  
Several shops and half Miranda's savings later, the mother/daughter pair was ready to go to the train station. The train from Cleveland would take the young brunette to Pittsburgh, where she would catch the train to Collard. As she prepared to board the train, she turned back to her mother. "Mama, I'll miss you."  
  
Ruth Martin smiled at her child, and put her hand on her shoulder, "I'll miss you too, baby."  
  
Miranda smiled back, then climbed aboard, and didn't look back. 


	2. On the Train

As Miranda stood surveying the Pittsburgh Train Station fingering her new chestnut locks. The change wasn't that big, from brown to a shiny reddish-brown, but it made a huge difference. That and the fact that her shoulder-length tresses weren't woven into their trademark piggie-braids. Oh, also her new wardrobe. Wizarding clothes weren't all that different style-wise from nowi clothes, except wizard clothes had enchantments to make themselves fit better. However, what she had on at that moment was worlds away from what she had worn in her previous nowi life. She had on a pair of red low-rise boot cut cords with a soft white tank top that said "Witch?" graffiti-style in red and black, with a shiny purple bra under it, and multiple bangles and chains around her wrists and neck. She gathered her things, and approached a counter. "Excuse me, where's the 12:15 train to West Virginia?" The man behind the counter grinned broadly. "So, you're a Collard girl? Is this your first year?" "Yeah," she returned the man's smile. "Must be scary going off to a new place by yourself, huh?" "Nah, I've got Brutus to keep me company," she nodded to a slightly shuddering box that contained her somewhat irate male crup that her mother bought her as a present. It was such a pleasant surprise, but now Brutus was no exact happy with her for having to keep him cooped up. She hoped he wouldn't take it out on her when she finally could let him out. "That's nice. Well, your train's over there, if you hurry, you can probably get your pick of seats." She waved goodbye to him, and walked to the platform, and boarded the train. The train was grouped into small booths of six seats, sat in threes, each trio facing the other. She picked a booth near the back of the car, and put her bags on the rack above her. Brutus's box was placed on the seat next to her as she plopped down next to the window, facing the front of the train. As time passed more and more children her age and older boarded the train, but none made an attempt to talk to her. In fact, most of them seemed to already have buddied up pretty closely. She sighed. Maybe this change thing is going to be harder than I thought... she frowned mentally. She pulled out her Charms textbook. "E-excuse me, may I sit here?" a voice called Miranda back from her book. She looked up at the speaker. She was a short slender girl with jet black hair with lighter brown roots, brown eyes encircled by thick black eyeliner, and dark clothing, a black fitted tee with a rose drawn in deep red glitter on it, a heavy grey wool skirt, and black fishnets with a few strategically placed holes. The girl nervously pushed a strand of her pin- straight mid-back length hair behind one of her many times pierced ears, showing off her steel-studded black leather wrist cuff, "All the others were taken." Miranda smiled, "Sure." The girl looked very relieved, and settled in the seat across from the brunette, who leaned over and offered her hand. "I'm Miranda Martin, nice to meet you." The girl shyly took her hand, "I'm Alexis Whitmore." She cast her eyes downward, and had an expression that said that she wanted to say more, but couldn't quite do so. Miranda felt for her, if one of her siblings had been there just then, she would have been acting much the same way. "Where are you from?" Miranda decided to jump start the conversation. Alexis looked up, somewhat startled, "Oh, um, New Jersey, just outside of New York City." Miranda grinned, "Cool, I've always wanted to go there." The raven-haired girl smiled back timidly, "Where are you from?" "Suburban Cleveland." "Oh, that's nice..." Alexis hesitated, "Are you... Are your parents... um, magical?" Miranda furrowed her brow. How could she answer that question? If she just said no, the answer, while technically correct, would be misleading. But, on the other hand, yes was definitely not the right answer either. While she was contemplating her response, Alexis took note of her expression and bowed her head, "You don't have to answer if you don't want to." "It's not that, it's just... well, complicated," Miranda tried to reassure her companion, "You see, my mother came from a Magic family, but she didn't have any talent for it." Alexis's eyes grew wide, "Is that possible?" "Yes, or course. I mean, some people are better at different kinds of magic than others, so occasionally someone's born who's not good at it at all," the brunette shrugged. "So-so... do you know any magic?" "A little, my aunt taught me." The black-haired girl frowned and turned her head toward the window. At that moment, the train started moving with a lurch. The two sat in silence for a bit, giving time for Miranda to get lost in her thoughts. Why had Alexis reacted that way? Miranda realized she didn't know much about the girl. She knew that some wizards had prejudice against Luthes and their families, but it really didn't seem like Alexis was like that, and, anyway, she had been acting oddly before Miranda had said anything about her mom... in fact, she didn't seem to know what Luthes were. Wait... if Alexis didn't know about Luthes... maybe she's from an all nowi family! Miranda studied the girl across from her. Witches and wizards born from nowi parents were uncommon, but they did exist... they had a name for them... what was it... Yumuka! "Are you a yumuka?" Alexis looked up, her face etched with anxiety. "Um... yeah..." she looked like she wished the seat would swallow her up. "Why are you so scared?" "Well, I don't know anything and about magic and those other kids..." Alexis's head drooped, and she rubbed her right elbow with her left hand. "What? What about those other kids?" the brunette sat up straight and tried to spy into the booths around them. "Well, when I got on... some of them... threatened... to use their wands to... do stuff to me." "WHAT!" at Miranda's exclamation several of the nearby passengers looked at the girls, but when she narrowed her icy eyes at them, they looked away. "They did? That's horrible!" she continued in a softer tone. "Is that a big deal?" "Well, if they don't think it is, I certainly do," she made a fist, "Nobody messes with my friends!!" Alexis touched her hand lightly. "You want to be my friend?" This stopped the brunette's rampage, "Well, of course." She raised an eyebrow at the other girl. "Tha-that's so good, I was so worried about not finding anybody cool to be friends with at school." "Yeah, me too. If you haven't noticed, no one was sitting with me when you got here." She waved her hand at the empty seats. "Well, except Brutus here," the box shuddered in response. The raven-haired girl flinched, "What is that?" "He's a crup, sort of like the wizarding equivalent of a dog. He's really cute..." Miranda grinned evilly, "Want me to let him out?" The box shook again, and Alexis looked dubiously at it. The owner of the box moved to open it, and a small creature popped out. He looked much like a Jack Russell Terrier, with black ears and a small brown face, with black patch on his right rear hip. Alexis gaped at him. "He's just a regular dog!" "No he's not, really. He had two tails when he was born-see here, the scar?" she pointed to a bare patch of skin to the left of his remaining tail, "Plus he's not all that fond of nowi... which means my sisters and brother can't try to take him away," she grinned as the furry animal licked her hand excitedly. "He's cute! Can I hold him?" Miranda passed the wiggling beast to her new friend, where he immediately started licking her face. The girls chatted a bit about nothing until they felt the train slow. Brutus's ears perked up, and Miranda grabbed him up, "Away you go," she looked up at Alexis, "It looks like we're here." 


End file.
